7.  The applicant was born in 1966 and lives in Dublin. She is married to T.
8.  On 8 February 2002 she went to Seclin Hospital, in France, together with her mother and a French lawyer, to request anonymous registration of the forthcoming birth of her child (accouchement sous X).
9.  She was admitted to the maternity ward on 17 February 2002, and on 18 February 2002 she gave birth to a girl, K., from an extramarital relationship with Mr Byrski.
10.  On 19 February 2002 she had an interview lasting half a day with the social services, in the presence of her mother and a nurse who had been asked to act as an interpreter by the hospital. On the same day she signed a record of the child’s placement in State care in accordance with Article L. 224-5 of the Social Action and Families Code, handing over a folder intended for the child, which contained a letter, photographs and administrative documents.
11.  In the record she indicated that she wished to have the child taken into State care, to request secrecy and to give her consent to adoption under Article 348-3 of the Civil Code. She stated that the child was born out of wedlock and was not recognised by the father.
12.  The section entitled “Reasons for the placement” contained the following details:
“[The applicant] wishes to keep secret the reasons why she is giving her child up for adoption. She would prefer to hand us the attached documents, which will be released to the child at her request on reaching the age of majority (letter, photos, official documents). Secrecy has been requested purely to ‘protect her baby’ from the violent and unbalanced biological father.”
13.  The section entitled “Information on the placement” stated:
“We have informed her of the following: ...
(3)  Time-limits and conditions for return of the child:
–  a child who is claimed back within a period of two months by the parent who entrusted the child to the Child Welfare Service will be returned to that parent without any further formalities (Article L. 224-6, paragraph 2, of the Social Action and Families Code).
–  if the child has a second parent who did not entrust him or her to the service and who claims the child back within a period of six months, the child will be returned to that parent without any further formalities (same Article).
–  once these periods have expired (two months if the sole parent or both parents entrusted the child to the service; six months if the second parent did not entrust the child to the service), an application for judicial review of the child’s placement in State care may be lodged, within thirty days from the date of the formal registration, with the tribunal de grande instance (Article L. 224-8 of the Social Action and Families Code).
–  beyond these time-limits:
*  if the child has been placed for adoption, any application to have the child returned will be inadmissible (Article 352 of the Civil Code) ...
(6)  Conditions for withdrawal of consent to adoption (Article 348-3, paragraphs 2 and 3, of the Civil Code)
We have given her the following:
–  a notice setting out the effects of placement in State care and of consent to adoption and the conditions for recovery of the child and withdrawal of consent;
–  a model letter requesting the return of the child and/or withdrawing consent to adoption, if consent has been given.”
14.  On the same day (19 February 2002) the applicant gave her consent to the child’s adoption. The form of consent stated, inter alia:
“I ... certify that I have been informed:
... 2.  about the effects of consent to adoption, namely:
–  that the placement is secret,
–  that I forfeit all my rights over the child,
–  that placement for adoption constitutes a bar to any recognition, declaration of filiation or application for recovery. 3.  that this document will become FINAL after a period of TWO MONTHS, on 20 April 2002, and that during this period the child may be returned to me in accordance with the prescribed procedures for withdrawal of consent (Article 348-3, paragraphs 2 and 3, of the Civil Code).
I hereby declare that I formally consent to the adoption of my child ..., leaving the choice of the adopter to the Child Welfare Service.
I acknowledge that I have received:
–  a notice setting out the time-limits and conditions for the return of my child,
–  a model letter for withdrawal of consent to adoption and to the record of the child’s placement in State care.”
15.  On 20 February 2002 the applicant had a further interview lasting half a day with the social services, in the presence of a doctor acting as an interpreter, during which, at her request, various matters relating to the record signed the previous day were discussed.
16.  On 7 May 2002, after approval had been given by the Family Council, the chairman of the Nord département council, as the official guardian of children in State care, placed K. in the care of Mr and Mrs L.-B. with effect from that date with a view to her full adoption.
17.  In the meantime, Mr Byrski, the child’s biological father, had applied to the Dublin Circuit Family Court for recognition of his rights over the child. In decisions of 19 July and 14 and 28 August 2002 the Circuit Family Court directed that the adoption process in France should not proceed any further, that the name and a photograph of the child were to be sent to Mr Byrski and that its decisions were to be forwarded to the Nord département council and the French social services.
18.  On 25 and 26 July 2002 the applicant went to the hospital’s maternity ward and subsequently to the French social services, seeking the return of the child. According to a note drawn up by the social services, her request was based on two reasons: firstly, the biological father had learned of the child’s birth in the meantime and had brought an action in Ireland, and secondly, she had managed to persuade her husband to recognise the child. Her request was refused because the two-month time-limit for withdrawing consent had expired.
19.  The applicant then applied to the Lille tribunal de grande instance, seeking the annulment of the decision to give the child up and an order for her return. She submitted that the consent she had given on 19 February 2002 had been invalid on account of the family pressure exerted on her and because she had not realised the consequences of registering the birth anonymously, since the process had been explained to her without an interpreter being present. She argued that French law contravened Articles 13 and 14 of the Convention.
20.  The child’s biological father, Mr Byrski, intervened in the proceedings.
21.  In a judgment of 31 October 2002 the court dismissed the applicant’s claims, holding as follows:
“In support of her application for the annulment of the decision to give up the child born on 18 February 2002 and for the child’s return, Ms Kearns alleges that an error was committed as to the meaning and scope of the document of 19 February 2002.
Ms Kearns, an Irish national living and working in Dublin, came to the maternity ward in Seclin to give birth on 18 February 2002. On that occasion she expressed the wish for her admission and her identity to be kept secret.
The exercise by any woman of this right, which is enshrined in Article 341-1 of the Civil Code and which the legislature has to date had no intention of reconsidering, is governed by the provisions of Article L. 222-6 of the Social Action and Families Code, as amended by the Act of 22 January 2002.
It appears from the evidence before the court ... that at least two lengthy interviews were held in order to explain to this woman the conditions and effects of anonymous registration of a birth. These interviews took place in the presence of English speakers, and Ms Kearns, who chose to come to France to give birth, cannot expect the social services to have offered anything more in this respect, particularly not the presence of an official interpreter, which is not provided for or required by any statutory instrument. Furthermore, it appears from the proceedings ... and from the written submissions summarising her counsel’s address ... that Ms Kearns was taken to hospital by a lawyer; she had therefore clearly sought legal advice prior to the birth.
Accordingly, no matter what psychological state the applicant may have been in, like any woman opting to give birth in these circumstances, it appears that Ms Kearns was nevertheless fully aware of both the immediate and the future implications of her actions and decisions. She thus acted quite consciously in having the birth registered anonymously and giving the child up to the social services to be taken into State care, and there are no grounds for arguing that her intellectual faculties were impaired or that the consent was invalid in any way; moreover, the question of consent is not applicable from a civil-status perspective.
In addition, as regards the formal propriety of the document of 19 February 2002, once a child is entrusted to the social services, the latter assume a number of obligations, including the provision of information ... It appears from the record of the child’s placement, which contains entries whose existence is not disputed, that the social services fulfilled their obligation to provide information on a child’s placement in State care and the ensuing legal effects. Such information was, moreover, provided in English, and the notice and model letter requesting the return of the child were indeed given to Ms Kearns. Furthermore, Ms Kearns fully understood the meaning and scope of this information since she left documents for the child in the event that the latter expressed the wish to discover her origins at a future date.
Ms Kearns clearly expressed her wish that the child should never be able to have legal ties to her. Moreover, she did not withdraw her consent within the two-month period. It should be noted in this connection that this right is strictly personal; accordingly, no action by a third person may be treated as an action to withdraw consent, that being the sole prerogative of the mother, or interrupt the relevant period.
Accordingly, there are no grounds for declaring null and void the record of 19 February 2002, which served as an entirely valid basis for the placement in State care (first provisionally and later with final effect) of the child born on 18 February 2002 with no established parentage ...
Since the mother did not apply for the return of the child within two months after giving her up, the child, who has no legally established parentage, was able to be placed with foster parents by the State authorities with a view to her adoption under Article 351 of the Civil Code.
Such placement for adoption, by virtue of the provisions of Article 352 of the Civil Code, constitutes a bar not only to the return of the child to the mother but also to any declaration of filiation or recognition. The first ground of appeal must therefore be declared ineffective.
Ms Kearns further alleges a violation of Articles 13 and 14 of the European Convention on Human Rights.
As stated above, Ms Kearns gave birth ... while wishing to keep the birth and her identity secret, a right enshrined in Article 341-1 of the Civil Code and given effect by the Social Action and Families Code.
More generally, these Articles govern the conditions for giving up a child, for consent to adoption or for anonymous registration of a birth, as well as the conditions and procedures applicable in the event of repudiation and/or withdrawal of any of these measures.
They strike a delicate balance between the rights of a mother, which the legislature has to date had no intention of reconsidering, to give birth anonymously with the  consequences that entails, and the rights of the foster parents and of the child, whose rights are now framed in such a way as to allow him or her access to more information, if he or she so desires, but in whose interests stability and certainty, both psychological and legal, must be sought, if only through the shortness of the time within which the natural parents may avail themselves of the appropriate procedures.
The instant case thus cannot be said to involve any discrimination or deprivation of the enjoyment of a right secured to the mother or the child by the European Convention on Human Rights, or indeed our national law, within the meaning of Article 14 of the Convention. Similarly, no matter how short they are, time-limits do exist in French law for bringing an action in the ordinary courts, constituting, within the meaning of Article 13 of the Convention ..., an effective remedy before a national authority independent of the administrative authority that may be required to rule on an application for the return of a child or to approve an adoption.”
22.  The applicant appealed. In a judgment of 22 September 2003 the Douai Court of Appeal set aside the first-instance judgment. After reiterating the content of the record of 19 February 2002, and in particular the information it provided, the court held:
“Paragraph 3 of the section on information thus expressly mentions the existence of two time-limits for the child’s return without any further formalities, one being two months (the only possible limit that could apply in the instant case), the other being six months, where the second parent has not entrusted the child to the social services.
This six-month time-limit is mentioned on two further occasions, firstly in relation to the right to have the child returned to the second parent and secondly in indicating that even after the expiry of the two-month and six-month periods, a court action may still be brought.
This information could have misled Ms Kearns ... since in reality the six-month time-limit applicable under Article L. 224-6 of the Social Action and Families Code in the circumstances referred to in Article L. 224-4 did not apply in the instant case, there being no established paternity as the mother had registered the birth anonymously, and the placement therefore came under point (1) of Article L. 224-4.
Ms Kearns, an Irish national who is a native English speaker and does not speak French, could not have known the consequences in French law of anonymous registration of the birth, in terms of her rights and those of the biological father, and the information given was in no way capable of enlightening her in a clear and precise manner.
Having been informed of the existence of a six-month time-limit where ‘the child has a second parent who did not entrust him or her to the service’, she may legitimately have thought, in the light of the information set out in the record, that this time-limit was applicable in her case since she had on several occasions notified the local health and social services department of the existence of a biological father who had not been informed of the placement procedure.
It will be observed that there is no mention in the record that an interpreter was present when it was signed and that it has not been disputed that a member of the maternity ward staff assisted with the translation and the explanation in English of the information given in French to Ms Kearns ... However, a translation of this nature, which was provided by a person who used English only occasionally and did not have specific legal knowledge, and which, moreover, was based on particularly ambiguous information as to the time-limits, did not enable Ms Kearns ... to have access to proper information about her rights regarding the procedures for withdrawing consent.
It therefore appears that the information provided to the appellant concerning the right to have the child returned was inaccurate or at least particularly ambiguous, and was set out in a pre-printed document not specially adapted to the procedure of anonymous birth registration but designed for use in any of the circumstances covered by Article L. 224-4 of the Social Action and Families Code for the taking of a child into State care; that reference was made to a six-month time-limit not applicable in her case; and that, moreover, being an native English speaker, the mother was not effectively informed of the procedures for the return of her child and of the strict two-month time-limit that applied in her case.
Furthermore, it has not been shown in any way that Ms Kearns ... otherwise received any clear information before the record was signed as to her right to recover the child.
The note by Ms F. – who also drew up the record in issue – besides having no evidential value, since it was written by a party to the proceedings, does not contain any clarification as to the information given to Ms Kearns ... about the time-limit for withdrawing consent.
Similarly, the fact that Ms Kearns ... was in contact with a French lawyer prior to the birth does not mean that she received precise information from him about the exclusive nature of the two-month time-limit ...
Ms Kearns’ belief ... in the possibility of recovering the child within a six-month period is corroborated by the request she made in person on 25 and 26 July 2002 to the Nord health and social services department, citing this time-limit, and by the subsequent letters from her lawyer, which also state that his client thought that she could take her child back within such a period.
Having regard to all these considerations, it appears that Ms Kearns ... placed her child in State care while believing – legitimately, in view of the ambiguous information she had received when signing the record of the placement – that she could take her back within a period of six months and that this time-limit also applied to Mr B., who had, moreover, instituted proceedings in Ireland on 9 April 2002.
This error as to the time-limit for the return of the child concerns a significant element of her consent to the child’s placement in State care, especially as the provisions of Article L. 224-5 of the Social Action and Families Code require precise information on the subject to be given to the mother.
In these circumstances, the application for the record of the child’s placement of 19 February 2002 to be declared null and void must be allowed.
... seeing that the handing over of the child to the State authorities was rendered void by a lack of true consent affecting the validity of the record drawn up on 19 February 2002, the child’s placement in State care is to be retrospectively annulled and cannot therefore have any legal effect.
Accordingly, the application for the child to be returned to Ms Kearns ... should be allowed, without there being any need to address the subsidiary arguments she submitted in support of that application.
Pursuant to Article 334-8 of the Civil Code, parental ties shall be established between Ms Kearns ... and the child to whom she gave birth in the maternity ward of Seclin Hospital on 18 February 2002 and a reference to this judgment shall be entered in the register of births, deaths and marriages for the town of Seclin.”
23.  In a letter of 24 September 2003 the applicant’s lawyer asked the prefect to enforce the judgment and to return the child to her mother. No action was taken on this request.
24.  The prefect for the département of Nord appealed on points of law, arguing that in the absence of recognition by the mother of the child to whom she had given birth anonymously, it was not necessary to obtain her consent for the child to be taken into State care.
25.  In a judgment of 6 April 2004 the Court of Cassation allowed the appeal, holding as follows:
“[Article L. 224-4, point (1), of the Social Action and Families Code] provides that children whose parentage has not been established or is unknown and who have been entrusted to the Child Welfare Service for more than two months are deemed to have been taken into State care.
On 18 February 2002 Mrs T. (née Kearns) gave birth anonymously. On 19 February 2002 a record of the child’s placement in State care with the Child Welfare Service was drawn up in accordance with Article L. 224-5 of the Social Action and Families Code. On 7 May 2002 the child was placed for adoption after the Family Council for Children in State Care had given its approval on 25 April 2002. On 25 July 2002 Mrs T. unsuccessfully sought to have the child returned to her. In applications of 22 August and 10 September 2002 she brought proceedings against the prefect of the département of Nord, seeking the return of the child.
In allowing her claim, the Court of Appeal held that the child’s placement with the State authorities was rendered void by a lack of true consent affecting the validity of the record drawn up on 19 February 2002, seeing that when the record was signed Mrs T. had received only ambiguous information about the period within which she could take her child back.
In so holding, despite the fact that in the absence of recognition, the child’s parentage was not established, such that Mrs T.’s consent was not required when the child was taken into care ..., the Court of Appeal breached the provision cited above.”
26.  The Court of Cassation therefore quashed and annulled the Court of Appeal’s judgment in its entirety and, applying Article 627, paragraph 2, of the New Code of Civil Procedure (by which it may put an end to the dispute by applying the appropriate legal rule), dismissed the applicant’s claims.
27.  The full adoption procedure, which had been suspended, was resumed by Mr and Mrs L.-B. In a judgment of 17 June 2004 the Lille tribunal de grande instance allowed their application and made a full adoption order in respect of the child.